Trapped?

I learned this week that baseball games can be dangerous. Oh, they are good about warning foul balls or thrown bats. But their is a danger that is not covered by the regular disclaimers. It was last week when a young girl, 4 or 5 years of age, got her head caught in the railing which follows the stairs up into the stands. And tonight, a young man of about the same age got his foot caught in the seat. Both were painful reminders that a ball park can be a dangerous place.

But it would seem that there might be spiritual lessons as well. To many times we think the things we find in life are safe, but when we get to involved with them, like those two children, we find that they do not match with what God expects - they are, in fact, dangerous. What am I, what are you, doing that seems safe, but is dangerous to my spiritual life?

Personal Statement of Faith

A Personal Statement of Faith

Using the model of E. Stanley Jones, I want to examine the truths that have defined my life over the last 35 years. It is not intended to represents the faith of the church I serve (a small United Methodist congregation) or the church with whom I hold my ordination (The Wesleyan Church); rather, it is intended to be a personal statement of faith that has developed from my personal study, my training, and my experience with a loving God.

I expect that this will be a growing list - but I also expect it to be finite at any given time. I can never know God in His entirety, but I can know Him personally. The next step, perhaps a lifetime task, will be to add scripture and references in support of the statements given below.

Floyd H. Johnson

1. God exists
2. God is all knowing, all powerful, and always present (omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent)
3. God is love
4. There is a Trinity, consisting of three persons, yet one God
5. The Father is God
6. The Son is God
7. The Holy Spirit is God
8. Scripture is inerrant - God so prepared the authors of scripture that they wrote without error what God intended for them to write.
9. I am more concerned with how we view and use scripture than what we call it - though the original writings were inerrant, we do not have an inerrant copy
10. Jesus is God's Son
11. Jesus never sinned
12. Jesus gave His life for our sins
13. Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day.
14. Man and woman are God's creation
15. All have sinned
16. All need God's forgiveness
17. Christians do sin
18. Christians know that God has forgiven them
19. God does not force his grace on us
20. God's perfect Son died on the cross for everyone
21. We must choose how to respond to Jesus
22. There are consequences (both in the present and in the future) for choosing Jesus-this is salvation
23. There are consequences (both in the present and in the future) for rejecting Jesus
24. The Holy Spirit is given to all who choose to believe - the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
25. But, just as we must respond to Jesus, so must we respond to the Holy Spirit
26. When we respond to the Holy Spirit, we are filled with the Holy Spirit
27. There are consequences (both now and in the future) for responding to the Holy Spirit
28. There are consequences (both now and in the future) for rejecting the ministry of the Holy SpiritThe church is Christ's representative on earth - His body
29. Christ has commanded us to individually be baptized and corporately receive communion
30. Jesus will return